Calgary hockey parents outraged by playoff game decided by coin toss at Winsport

[taco.vidal]

http://globalnews.ca/news/3320375/ca.../?sf64269374=1

Calgary hockey parents outraged by playoff game decided by coin toss at Winsport
March 19, 2017 1:29 pm

It’s the height of playoff season at ice rinks across Calgary for hundreds of minor hockey players.

But players, parents and coaches were outraged after a decision in a big game between the Calgary Buffalo Wranglers and Calgary Royals came down to the flip of a coin due to ice time running out.

The game was held at Winsport on Saturday night at 7 p.m., one of many games being played as part of the AA City Championships.

Royals head coach Jarvis Bender said the game was tied and came down to a three player shootout but when no one scored, the decision was made to have a coin toss.

“The toughest part for me was to tell 19 teenagers that all their hard work and dedication for the season was decided not by their skill but by a coin toss,” Bender said.

The rules allow hockey games to go into ten minutes of overtime but Bender believes there was an error made when their ice time was booked.

Winsport was asked to extend the time to finish the shootout but Bender said they wouldn’t budge due to a game scheduled afterward.

[afc wimbledon]

Not ideal but not the end of the world either

[Locke]

Coin toss or shootout....theres not a world of difference.

[Northendzone]

Brutal way to sort out a bantam hockey game.

[burn_this_city]

How much longer would it have taken to decide it in a shootout? Maybe 5-10 mins tops?

[RinkRat]

They say there was a booking issue, but from my experience hockey associations try to book a shorter time and expect their OT to be allowed well passed their alloted time. Simply because it's a playoff game.

At my rink if a private booking is after you you're out of luck. But if it can be accommodated I'm happy to oblige.

[puffnstuff]

Bantam AA would book minimum 2 hours time slots. And have 20 minute stop time periods, with at least one flood during an intermission somewhere in the three periods. They usually book back to back to back for league games. As in, take all the ice between 530 and 11. Playoffs would be different of course as they get down to the semis and finals and need fewer ice times. Looking at the schedule at Hockey Calgary, looks like they had 2 hours booked.

[calgaryblood]

Id be outraged as well, a coin toss? The only way to settle something fairly is rock, paper, scissors.

[Skaloper]

Team higher in the standings for regular season or other tiebreaker rules should come into play here other than a coin flip. That way a team knows going in that its up to them to ensure they are ahead. Another idea might be to just have a competition off the ice where kids have to flip their water bottles and the first team to do it moves on.

But in all reality this is a scheduling issue to not allow for enough time to decide a winner.

[Weitz]

Keep throwing shooters till it's over. Would have been done by the time they decided to flip the coin I bet.

[OMG!WTF!]

Shoulda had the parents fight it out.

[monkeyman]

Poor decision by Winsport, but that's pretty petty and dangerous of the parents.

[Finger Cookin]

That's their secret, Cap. Calgary hockey parents are always outraged.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

Poor decision by Winsport, but that's pretty petty and dangerous of the parents.

Which was what? Didnt see anything in the article listed.

A Double AA tournament game should never ever be decided by a coin flip though....this isnt a bunch of 7 year olds out there.

Winsport.... epic fail.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

Shoulda had the parents fight it out.

I think that's what they might have been going for when they decided to do a coin toss

[Cecil Terwilliger]

How is this on winsport? The teams and/or minor hockey association screwed up and didn't book enough time. Even that I find hard to believe. As if they didn't know how long their booking was for.

They knew the rules going in, or at least should have, and were responsible for booking enough time. They didn't.

I'm sure if they really want they can lobby the association to allow them to book an hour of ice time and have a proper OT and shootout.

[browna]

Almost every sports tournament I've been involved in, the rules state that in the event of a tie (after goal difference, penalty shots (soccer or hockey), goals for and against etc) the final tie breaker is a coin toss.

Now, usually its in a round robin type of thing, but its there (and probably in the rules here too) because something has to be decided and there is not the time for further tie breakers.

But many times as a kid, playing with 7-10 minutes left in the game but it got delayed, and the clock suddenly went down to 2 minutes because the ice time was running out, and you had to deal with it. Same with Minor Hockey week back in the 80's - overtime was 5-5 with no goalies, and then every 3 minutes 1 kid from each team taken off the ice. That's really not much more than a coin flip, either.

Canada won the Gold Cup in 2000 in soccer in part due to winning a coin toss after the round robin in the earlier rounds, to just get into the QF - they then won the next 3 games.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle4160365/

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

How is this on winsport? The teams and/or minor hockey association screwed up and didn't book enough time. Even that I find hard to believe. As if they didn't know how long their booking was for.

They knew the rules going in, or at least should have, and were responsible for booking enough time. They didn't.

I'm sure if they really want they can lobby the association to allow them to book an hour of ice time and have a proper OT and shootout.

this was the city championship tournament, so not directly on the teams or their associations

coin toss team just won the Bantam AA final game

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by looooob

this was the city championship tournament, so not directly on the teams or their associations

coin toss team just won the Bantam AA final game

So this is hockey calgary's fault? Still not sure how winsport is to be blamed.

[btimbit]

Yeah, this is the fault of whoever booked the ice time. Winsport just trying to honour all their commitments.

That really does suck for the teams though. Pretty ####ty to be a player on the losing team because of it